Name: Michael Certo
Age: 39
What do you do here at UNM?
I am a curator at the art museum. I do all the education and outreach and do all their graphic designs. I work behind the scenes in the exhibitions. I do all the education stuff. I give all the tours, exhibitions and things like that. In this job it's interesting, because I work with so many young kids. It's really rewarding when you show them some abstract art or something, and they come out of there. And this one kid didn't say much during the tour - this abstraction show - stuff difficult for even adults to get a grasp on. Then when he left, he said, "Ahh, man. Now you got all that art up inside my head, and now you're making me think about everything." They will probably remember that forever.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
What's being a curator like?
It's just not a matter of picking stuff up and putting it on the wall. There is a lot of research that goes on. There is a crew of 30 people who have to do loan agreements, insurance, packing, designing the space, painting, hanging the work - and then us educators trying to interpret the art.
What is your background?
I have a bachelor's of fine arts - University of California. I worked as a motorcycle mechanic, in a parking booth, restaurants, bars and construction - artists' jobs.
Why did you come to Albuquerque?
Because I am an artist, and it's cheap.
Is there anything interesting happening at the Center for the Arts?
There's five different shows. "Painting: Alive and Well," which is a great big painting show curated by an outside collector. We have an education show in the Lower Gallery that is arts and science observation and imagination. That's the one we built for kids, so we will be touring thousands of kids through that. It's from an artist-science viewpoint, so there is a lot of work for people who work with science and art together. This is the largest collection of art in the state of New Mexico, so we have got over 30,000 pieces in the collection. It's a great resource for anybody. It's free.
